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Availability of a vast variety of shelves in different materials and designs make it difficult for a buyer to decide which one to buy and why. In this article we’ll make a comparative study of the two most common materials used for making these shelves: glass and wood.Wood Shelves
Most wood shelves that we see today are not really made from solid wood. Invariably they are made from a solid core of compressed wood or plywood, at times referred to as engineered wood. These are then finished with paint or veneer. Such shelves are quite cheap as compared to those made from real wood. They are light weight and stronger than real wood. The better variety of such shelves is covered with a thin sheet of natural wood, usually veneer. These coatings with veneer, if applied professionally, imparts the looks of a natural wood to the shelves, but remember the core is not made from the same wood. So, the positive feature of these shelves is that apart from being economical, they help preserving natural trees by making use of recycled materials.
That does not mean real wood shelves from veneer are not available. Those beautifully crafted wood shelves in solid veneer are definitely available in rich wood colors, but then one should be willing to pay a hefty price for those.
Glass Shelves
Glass shelves are different but just like wood you should know the type of glass that has been used for making it. While considering glass shelves, you should go for that quality of glass that would not get chipped off or shattered so easily. Any way a glass shelf is bound to break on getting dropped, but a variety of glass known as tempered glass is not broken into millions of minuscule pieces. Further, it won’t get cracked or chipped off on getting knocked. Glass that has been heat treated, has almost double the strength of an ordinary glass.
Another factor that imparts strength to glass is its thickness. A thick standard glass is definitely stronger than a thin tempered glass. The technology employed for making glass and its thickness determines its strength and therefore weight-bearing capacity. It will be a smart idea to know its strength while buying a shelf.
You decide which will better suit your requirements.
Now that you have had a bit of exposure to the materials most often used for shelves, the next step will be to understand what suits you most. Study your requirements of a shelf in the light of following:
1. How loaded are these going to be?
If you are going to use them for keeping large or heavy items, wood is better to handle heavier or voluminous items, say a row of books. Of course, you get thick and strong glass shelf but you are taking a small risk. It will be quite impractical to weigh each and every item you are going to keep in a shelf. You won’t have to worry a bit if you are using wooden shelf and be sure that they will hold the weight.
On the other hand if you intend to have a display of items like trophies, framed photos, vases or a collection of some other memorable items, glass is an ideal material for it draws attention to the contents it is holding than the shelf itself.
2. Where are you going to place them in your home?
Glass shelves are excellent for being fixed in the kitchen. Imagine how convenient it will be clean a glass that has gathered grease. Wooden shelves are likely to have stains even if you manage to get rid of stains. Cleansing agents do not affect glass but are not healthy for natural wood. Likewise, you will have problems with wooden shelves in your bathroom because of water content and the spill over of other toiletries.
You sure would welcome wooden shelves in your living room for the warmth and personal touch that they bring in.
3. Who is going to access these shelves?
It’s a pleasure to have growing kids at home, but you just can’t avoid accidents all the time. It’s not only the damaged glassware but what if the splinters of glass hurt a child!
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